Learned Hands: The Official Podcast of the Westerosi Bar Association

In this very special Hands on Episode, Merry, Clint, and Adriana Lady Counselor of the Summer Isles, Archmaester of Pedantic Sophistry, and Founding Member of the Governor Santiago Singh Appreciation Society cover the second act of the seventh book of the BEST SCI FI SERIES EVER, Persepolis Rising from the Expanse.

This episode includes:

• Adriana tells us why Governor Singh is her favorite character, even if he is a villain who is addicted to making bad decisions.
• A deep dive into how this book explores the theme of sacrifice, the political, and the personal, and the both. 
• Theorizing about whether or not Singh was set up to fail (SPOILER: yes).
• Drummer and Avasarala talk about what it means to die for something or die for nothing. It's incredible.
• Holden absolutely rinses Singh on political philosophy and the importance of choice.
• Merry highlights the book's focus on how ideology is malleable. 
• Clint gives the appreciation for Saba, Our Revolutionary King.

In this very first edition of the second season of Hands on HotD, Merry and Clint cover the two competing Green and Black Trailers released today for HBO's niche arthouse property HOUSE OF THE DRAGON - Season 2

In this episode:

• We break down the Black Trailer and the Green Trailer in a fun and excessively detailed but non-spoilery way!
• Merry hits the important themes of both trailers, how they both deal with patriarchy, choice, and a lack of agency.
• Clint tries very very hard to make several Blood and Cheese puns. 
• Everyone has BIG FEELS about the parallels between Alicent and Rhaenyra, our two main characters.
• Jace is on the Wall with CREGAN THEE STALLION which means we are finally getting some Starks, baby!
• We go in depth rapid fire on the cornucopia of imagery we get from the trailers: Harrenhal, Brackens and Blackwoods, the Golden Tooth, the Conqueror's Crown, Rook's Rest, Moondancer, Seasmoke, Meleys, Sunfyre, Syrax, Vhagar, Caraxes and MFing THE ISLE OF FACES. 
• The spoilery section gets hella, hella spoilery and we speculate on what HotD S2 will bring in depth. 

In this very special Hands on Episode, Merry and Clint cover the first act of the seventh book of the BEST SCI FI SERIES EVER, Persepolis Rising from the Expanse.

This episode includes:

• Merry and Clint get legitimately choked up talking about the themes of family, mercy, humanity, and beauty. 
• Everyone loves to hate (and love) that big idiot Santiago Singh.
• Clint gets to talk about Thomas Hobbes and the Leviathan, which is both waking and falling in the narrative.
• Merry goes long on whether punishment ships are a good idea or a bad idea (spoiler: BAD)
• We pour one out for Camina Drummer and her husband Saba, just the best fucking people.
• AVASARALA IS IN THIS PART.
• We give big middle fingers to Laconia, "benevolent dictatorship", and the concept of a non-human collective.
• Bobbie Draper. That's it. Bobbie Draper.

In this thirty-ninth episode of Learned Hands, the Official Podcast of the Westerosi Bar Association, Merry & Clint ask: Did Jon Snow's choice to ride south to Winterfell kill the Night's Watch? What responsibility, if any, does Jon have to maintain constitutional norms and structures?

Our analysis this episode includes:

• We go back to the Wall to discuss what unmakes a government!
• Discussion of whether Jon's breaking of Nights Watch norms constitutes a crossing of the Rubicon.
• A dramatic reading of the Shieldhall Speeches with musical accompaniment courtesy LittleWolfBird (find her patreon here)!
• Merry talking at length about her favorite doomed sad boi and why the show's treatment of the moment was not actually bad.
• Your Hands debate whether law can be used as a tool to change broken institutions.
• Clint does some stupid accents and talks about how the Senate sucks (rinse and repeat).
• Much discussion as to whether or not the Night's Watch was gonna die, and whether they had it comin'.
• We announce our 2024 dues drive and call for Amicus Curiae!

Supplemental reading:

• Merry's essay: The Last Temptation of Jon Snow Pt. 1, Kill the Boy
• Merry's essay: The Last Temptation of Jon Snow Pt. 2, The Choosing
• Adam Feldman's essay: Jon's Noble Heart and Greater Duty
• Why are men obsessed with the Roman Empire?
• A Lawyer's Role in Contemporary Democracy, Foreward

Bumpers by Dr. Kavita Mudan Finn. Extensive audio engineering by LittleWolfBird. Intro & Outro music courtesy Sid Luscious & The Pants. None of this should be construed as legal advice OBVIOUSLY. 

In this special BONUS EPISODE, we give you a recording of Merry & Clint @ Ice and Fire Con 2023 discussing one of their favorite topics: Legal Issues in the Dance of the Dragons! 

In this bonus recording we cover:

• Coups!
• Territorial conquest!
• The Hour of the Wolf!
• Primogeniture!
• The Iron Precedent
• And more!

Merry & Clint also bang their gavels a lot, and Merry makes a joke about blowing her wad.

Recording and audio engineering by LittleWolfBird! LWB's Patreon. 

In this thirty-eighth episode of Learned Hands, the Official Podcast of the Westerosi Bar Association, Merry & Clint ask: How well does Doran Martell's Water Gardens speech move the ball? 

Our analysis this week includes:

• Your Hands finally cover the Dornish plot from the perspective of Prince Doran Martell, as he tries to convince the Sand Snakes to stop saying "OK Boomer" at him.
• Merry puts on her best Valley Girl accent.
• So much food porn.
• We give Ellaria Sand her laurels for delivering one of the most passionate, cogent, and beautiful speeches in the series (that is entirely ignored by everyone who hears it).
• Clint tells everyone what it's like to be an Old Man relating to The Youths.
• We ask which TSwift album represents the Sand Snakes the most? Sound off in the comments. 
• No one has any idea what will happen to Doran's plan, other than there will be blood.
• We analyze Doran as the grass that hides the viper, and cover how his disability covers how people perceive him. 
• A DEFINITIVE ruling is issued as to who does the Dornish plot better: book or show. Listen to find out which we pick!

Supplemental reading: 

• Adam Feldman's essay series Water Gardens & Blood Oranges, Vol. I.
• Where to pay your dues
• Point Made

Extensive audio engineering by LittleWolfBird. Intro & Outro music courtesy Sid Luscious & The Pants. None of this should be construed as legal advice OBVIOUSLY. 

In this thirty-seventh episode (in a row?) of Learned Hands, the Official Podcast of the Westerosi Bar Association, Merry & Clint ask: How does Daenerys's deal with the slavers reflect her methods of persuasion?

Our analysis this week includes:

• Your Hands finally revisit one of the two main characters of the series, Dany, to talk about one of the most thrilling moments of the series: Dracarys!
• We get amazing input from our listeners as to why this moment is so iconic. 
• Merry introduces the Art of the Trick Fuck to the ASOIAF canon, and guides us all on the various ins and outs, if you were.
• Clint focuses on why exactly the Good Masters are so thoroughly moronic from the prospect of a merchant and a sovereign, and brings up a very old man war dad comparison: Robert E. Lee. 
• Instead of saying "it depends" like they usually do Learned Hands gives a definitive legal answer(!) as to whether or not Dany committed commercial fraud when she sold Drogon, but you'll have to listen to find out!
• (...SPOILER: don't think about that questioned with a poisoned lawyer brain, it's really bad for you so just don't do it)
• (...but ALSO SPOILER: no)
• CONTENT WARNING: Slavery, child abuse, child murder, animal abuse, animal murder, murder in general, and mentions of Jorah Mormont.
• BURN THEM ALL DANY, DRACARYS DRACARYS DRACARYS

Supplemental reading: 

• Where to pay your dues
• Point Made

Extensive audio engineering by LittleWolfBird. Intro & Outro music courtesy Sid Luscious & The Pants. None of this should be construed as legal advice OBVIOUSLY. 

In which Your Hands and Special Guest Hand Dr. Shiloh Carroll discuss the 2001 Sports Jousting Epic A KNIGHT'S TALE.

In this episode:

• We talk about Shiloh's new book, The Medieval Worlds of Neil Gaiman, and how you, the listener, can win a FREE SIGNED COPY OF THE BOOK.
• Your Hands (and Guest) go deep into the wonderfully anachronistic verisimilitude of A Knight's Tale, a film about how naked Geoffrey Chaucer could be at any given moment.
• Shiloh heaps praise upon the historically accurate bits of the film, oddly assisted in their efforts by the fact that the filmmakers did not give a single shit about accuracy, like not even a little bit. 
• Merry places the movie in its proper context of a film that intentionally and unselfconsciously draws on the media that came before it.
• Clint talks about Jocelyn's cleavage, and how Kate can GET IT.
• Everyone loves Robert Baratheon, Steve the Pirate, Mace Tyrell, and Alexander Hamilton.
• We rank the film against the other great sports movies of all time.

Additional reading

• BUY SHILOH'S BOOK YOU JERKS
• Ragman's Harbour (sic).
• Join the WBA

Intro & Outro music courtesy Sid Luscious & The Pants. None of this should be construed as legal advice OBVIOUSLY. 

In this thirty-sixth episode of Learned Hands, the Official Podcast of the Westerosi Bar Association, Merry & Clint ask: Is Varys's Riddle an effective method of persuasion?

Our analysis this week includes:

• Learned Hands finally does a FULL EPISODE on the Riddle, the thing Clint will never, ever shut up about, ever.
• Varys est mantainant Français. Vive la France!
• Merry offers her take on the Riddle as a piece of descriptive, not proscriptive, philosophy.
• Clint speechifies on shadows on the wall. Gotta play the hits!
• We evaluate Varys's discussions with Ned Stark, Tyrion Lannister, and Kevan Lannister to try to answer the question: what is his fucking deal bro?
• Your Hands at long last announce their official position on democracy: it's good (mostly)!
• Merry beats Clint to an absolutely perfect Black Sails reference. 
• Strap in for just so, so, SO much political philosophy, shots at the Supreme Court, Succession references, and stupid french jokes. 

Supplemental reading: 

• Where to pay your dues
• Point Made
• Clint's first essay on Varys's Riddle
• Clint on NotACast, ACOK Tyrion II

Extensive audio engineering by LittleWolfBird. Intro & Outro music courtesy Sid Luscious & The Pants. None of this should be construed as legal advice OBVIOUSLY. 

In this thirty-fifth episode of Learned Hands, the Official Podcast of the Westerosi Bar Association, Merry & Clint ask: Was anyone at the Kingsmoot any good at political persuasion?

Our analysis this week includes:

• The continuation of our new running series where Your Hands evaluate the persuasive argumentation skills of your favorite and least favorite ASOIAF characters.
• An overview of all of the reasons why political debates are terrible, awful, no good, really bad times.
• Merry brings her vast experience with debates and competitive speechifying to bear. 
• What the people demanded and we have provided in spades: Clint does more shitty accents. 
• Your Hands weigh which was more horrifying, the Kingsmoot debates or the 2016 Presidential debates.
• We enlist the Mighty WBA to lend their voices in support of the various Kingsmoot claimants!

Supplemental reading: 

• Where to pay your dues
• Point Made

Extensive audio engineering by LittleWolfBird. Intro & Outro music courtesy Sid Luscious & The Pants. None of this should be construed as legal advice OBVIOUSLY.